Abstract—Designers are frequently challenged by complex projects in which the problem space is unique, rapidly changing, and the information available is limited. In such cases, combining knowledge from different fields of expertise is required. Furthermore, collaboration during the design process is essential for achieving a meaningful and well-formed solution. Designers therefore regularly find themselves exchanging ideas and reflections in form of emails, sketches, and images with a group of experts from different backgrounds, working altogether through the creation of a design, its development and proper implementation. The particular paper explores -through COnCEPT research and development EU co-funded project- the nature and requirements of early design work focusing especially on issues of synchronous and asynchronous collaboration, team dynamics and the management and monitoring of the early stages of the design process. The overall aim is to identify the essential characteristics and needs of distributed teams when in remote collaboration during the early stages of the design process and suggest a prototype environment based on their requirements and workflow.

Index Terms—Brainstorming, creativity, conceptual design, CSCW, design process.

Liapis Aggelos and Thiveos Konstantinos are with INTRASOFT International SA, Research and Innovation Department, 19 km Markopoulou-Peania Avenue, GR-19002 Peania, Athens, Greece.
Didaskalou Alexandros is with Designlab Garyttou st. 150, Athens, Greece.

Cite:Liapis Aggelos, Didaskalou Alexandros, Thiveos Konstantinos, "The COnCEPT Project: Decoding the IT Needs of the Professional Designer When in Remote Collaboration during the Early Stages of the Design Process," International Journal of Computer and Communication Engineering vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 141-150, 2016.